Firefighters continue to battle huge blazes after three days of rioting between Muslims and Buddhists in central Myuanmar left at least 20 people dead.

The sectarian violence, the worst seen in Asia's fledgling democracy since last year's conflict, was sparked after an argument between a Muslim gold shop owner and his customers in the city of meikhtila.

As authorities began the clear up, there are fears that tensions between Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist population and minority Muslims could spread throughout the country.

Scroll down for video

Violence: Unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar has reduced neighbourhoods to ashes

Riots: Sectarian violence was sparked by an argument between a Muslim shop owner and Buddhist customers

Aftermath: Firefighters are still struggling to put out fires after three days of rioting in central Myanmar

In danger: The UN has warned the sectarian unrest could endanger a fragile reform programme

The unleashing of ethnic hatred, suppressed during 49 years of military rule that ended in March 2011, is challenging the reformist government of one of Asia's most ethnically diverse countries.

Jailed dissidents have been released, a free election held and censorship lifted in Myanmar's historic democratic transition. But the government has faced mounting criticism over its failure to stop the bloodshed between Buddhists and Muslims.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

'I am really sad over what happened here because this is not just happening to one person. It's affecting all of us," said Maung Maung, a Buddhist ward leader in Meikhtila.

Hundreds of Muslims have fled their homes to shelter at a sports stadium, said local officials. The unrest is a bloody reprise of last year's violence in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, which officially killed 110 people and left 120,000 people homeless, most of them stateless Rohingya Muslims.

Fear: Muslims who escaped the riots carry their belongings as they arrive at a stadium seeking refuge

Displaced: Refugees look on as new arrivals are brought into the stadium where they are sheltering

Emergency measures: Martial law has been declared in four central townships following the riots

More violence: The unrest is a bloody reprise of last year's violence in Rakhine State in western Myanmar

Locals complained there were too few
police in this city of about 180,000 people to subdue the unrest. It
erupted after an argument between a Buddhist couple and the Muslim
owners of a gold shop spiralled into a riot involving hundreds of
people, said police.

Some Meikhtila residents arming
themselves with knives and sticks in an eerie echo of the Rakhine
violence in 2012, when pitched battles between the two communities later
morphed into orchestrated attacks on Muslim communities by organised
gangs of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.

The
United Nations warned the sectarian unrest could endanger a fragile
reform programme launched after Myanmar's quasi-civilian government
replaced a decades-old military dictatorship in 2011.

'Religious
leaders and other community leaders must also publicly call on their
followers to abjure violence, respect the law and promote peace,' Vijay
Nambiar, U.N. special adviser of the secretary-general, said in a
statement.

Spiraling out of control: Pitched battles between the communities morphed into orchestrated attacks

Police presence: Locals complained there were too few police in the city of 180,000 to subdue the unrest

No go: Policemen form a blockade to prevent access to areas where buildings are still burning in Myanmar

Panic: Rumours that violent agitators were heading for the city had set its Muslim community on edge

Myanmar is a
predominantly Buddhist country, but about five percent of its 60 million
people are Muslims. There are large and long-established communities in
Yangon and Mandalay, Myanmar's two largest cities, where tensions are
simmering.

'Everyone is in shock here. We never expected this to happen,' said a Muslim teacher in Mandalay, requesting anonymity.

Rumours that violent agitators were heading for the city had set its Muslim community on edge, he said. Buddhist monks known for their anti-Islamic views last year staged several street protests in Mandalay.

In Meikhtila, at least one mosque, an Islamic religious school, several shops and a government office were set alight, said a fire service official, who declined to be named. Reuters reported that both Buddhist and Muslim homes have been burned.

Side-by-side: Myanmar is a mainly Buddhist country, but five per cent of its 60 million people are Muslims

Devastation: Burnt out houses are a symbol of the violence which unfolded between Buddhists and Muslims

Suppressed: Sectarian unrest is common in Myanmar but reports were stifled under the military dictatorship

Sectarian unrest is common in central Myanmar, although reports were stifled under the military dictatorship.

Three people died in Sinbyukyun in 2006 when Buddhists attacked homes and shops belonging to Muslims and ethnic Indians, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable.

'The incident reveals underlying tense inter-ethnic relations in the heartland,' said the cable, which also referenced similar communal riots in Kyaukse, a town near Meikhtila, in 2003.